


Priorities

by ArwenKenobi



Series: Watson's Woes July Writing Prompts 2013 [9]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-09
Updated: 2013-07-09
Packaged: 2017-12-18 06:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/876942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenKenobi/pseuds/ArwenKenobi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Great, he and Sherlock have codes.  And it's taken him this long to notice too.  Well done, Watson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Priorities

This is the last time, John swears. The absolute last time he lets Sherlock take cases while he's away. They'd had a talk about his, god damn it. No more unsupervised cases!

"If you would mind not cursing my brother, John, could you get back to assembling your rifle?"

"It's assembled and ready to go now would you just shut up and let me concentrate!" It feels good taking a strip off of Mycroft like that, especially when radio silence tells him that it worked. He flattens himself further to the ground and presses his eye against the telescopic sight.

Sherlock is still talking, antagonising the man who's got him in a headlock with a gun under his chin. Talking seems to be all he can do judging by the sluggish movements he's trying to make. Drugged, and either a paralytic or a muscle relaxant but John won't know until he's down there. He'd might have a better idea if he knew _who this man was and what he wanted_. Also knowledge of whether we're looking at a SC or SIC. Or just a CM.

Great, he and Sherlock have codes. And it's taken him this long to notice too. Well done, Watson.

"SIPO," he reminds himself as he feels his mind wandering. "SIPO."

"What does this have to do with the Chinese Intellectual Property Office."

" _Shut up, Mycroft!_ "

Sherlock's slurred speech turns more into gargling as the gun barrel is shoved deeper into his throat. "And Watson can't be arsed to be here either," the man purrs. "The calls all went to voicemail."

That's it. John takes the shot. The bullet just misses Sherlock's head, a margin that makes John uncomfortable but not uncomfortable enough to not take the shot, and explodes through the man's ear and out the other one. Dead before he hits the ground but he manages to have one more use before he hits the ground: he actually manages to cushion Sherlock's fall to the ground as well.

John decides the staircase, and the rifle that Mycroft had had ready for him, can go rot and hops off the balcony where he'd set up shot. He does manage to misjudge the distance, however, and ends up landing rather painfully on his feet. He curses as he hops toward Sherlock. Mycroft makes the fatal mistake of telling John to stop swearing before asking after his brother, which results in more profanity and him throwing the ear piece across the room. "Bastard," he grumbles.

"Am I right?" Sherlock slurs as he wiggles off the corpse. He tries to push himself up but doesn't quite manage it. John grabs his shoulder and hauls him up before he falls over. "SIPO worked then?"

John pretends to not hear him. "SIPO," Sherlock insists. "Sherlock is Priority One?"

"Well if it hadn't I imagine I'd be busy murdering that man _whom I know nothing about and had no idea you were meeting._ Sherlock we've discussed this."

"JIPO in my case," Sherlock admits. "My methods aren't always the best but, then again, I think we've well established that my judgement when it comes to that mission statement is not always sound."

John doesn't quite know what to say to that, or how to take such an open admission from Sherlock. They happen more often than they did before but it still throws him whenever they do happen. This one he decides to write off as whatever is working its way out of Sherlock's system. "Hospital?"

"IHH, please."

John rolls his eyes. "You just want to avoid Mycroft."

"Don't you?"

John has to agree. He hears sirens in the distance and takes them out the back way to hail a cab. Sherlock's phone is in pieces on the ground and John's phone is dead and full of voicemails back home. "Thank you," Sherlock says once they get home. He's got a bit more control over his limbs now and only need a hand on his elbow to keep him straight.

"More than welcome," John replies as easily as he can. He hand spasms on Sherlock's elbow and Sherlock's hand shakily covers it.

"I trust your emotional shooting more than I trust most people's calm shooting," Sherlock soothes as best as he's able. "I trust in you John, not what some CM says I should trust in."

Sometimes, John is just as incapable of enjoying a good moment of friendship as Sherlock is. "He was just a CM?" he groans. "I thought at least SIC."

"CM," Sherlock glumly confirms. "Otherwise I would have called you back immediately."

"How do you explain that then?"

"PPP."

John stops. Sherlock hasn't admitted to that since the Fall. "I want that documented. After we get you sorted. Right after, I mean. Before you fall asleep."

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt 9: WWWWD?: Make up an acronym and use it in your story.
> 
>  
> 
> For the curious the unexplained codes are:
> 
> SC: Standard Criminal
> 
> SIC: Standard Interesting Criminal
> 
> CM: Criminal Moron
> 
> IHH: In-House Hospital
> 
> PPP: Piss Poor Planning (Obviously, I did not make this one up ;)
> 
> Also apparently SIPO is the acronym for the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China. Hence, Mycroft's confusion.


End file.
